Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Chen Yansen locked his car and went up to the second floor, with Song Yuncheng following close behind.

Less than half the people were at their desks; the rest had gone to the cafeteria for dinner.

Wang Zihao looked up and saw Chen Yansen, greeting him. He also noticed Song Yuncheng behind him. Although he felt a bit curious, he didn’t ask any questions.

"Brother Sen, let’s go get dinner. A new beef noodle soup place just opened in Cafeteria Two. It’s pretty good," Wang Zihao said with a smile as he walked over.

"Maybe next time. I already ate in the city."

Chen Yansen sat down, leaned back, and pulled out his phone. He was about to download a new game from the app store when he suddenly spotted a promotional image for Mi Chat in the featured banner.

’Mi Chat is out?’

’Then WeChat can’t be far behind!’

Without a second thought, Chen Yansen downloaded and installed it. He tried it out for a bit. It had voice messaging, text and picture messaging, and group chats—all the essential features were there.

This thing was genuinely useful. Back in 2010, sending an MMS cost 0.5 to 0.9 yuan each, and the file size couldn’t exceed 100kb. Thinking about that a decade later was just unbelievable.

’It’s a shame that Lei Jun launched his product first but still couldn’t beat WeChat.’

Chen Yansen mused to himself, ’If I had been reborn in 2009, I would have at least created a "Cloud Chat," "Quick Chat," or "Fly Chat" to knock Little Ma down a peg.’

’Whatever. I’ll let you old geezers have the 3G era. The 4G era will be my domain. I’ll crush you all so bad you won’t know what hit you.’

Every era has its kingpin, and Chen Yansen intended to be the kingpin of the next one.

’WeChat uses QQ to drive traffic and load QQ contact lists, allowing for rapid expansion in a short time. It seems FoxTao’s Series A funding round really can’t afford to cut ties with Penguin.’

Chen Yansen calculated in his head.

Just then, it dawned on Song Yuncheng, who was sitting opposite him. She suddenly realized that everything she and Chen Yansen had done that afternoon was on the "100 Things Every Couple Must Do" list.

Her fair face instantly flushed red. She lowered her head, afraid Chen Yansen would notice.

"Song Yuncheng, on the 7th of next month, there’s a fashion salon at Four Seasons Green in Hang City. You’ll lead the team and host it. Zhang Yifeng will be your deputy, with Hu Li and Xu Kun accompanying you. A few channel directors from vertical e-commerce platforms will also be there, so make sure you seize any business opportunities."

Chen Yansen’s sudden words made Song Yuncheng jump.

"Okay. Are you going?" Song Yuncheng asked, composing herself.

"No." Chen Yansen shook his head.

This fashion salon and networking event was mainly to prepare for the new spring collections coming in March. Seventy percent of FoxTao’s user base was female, so they had to build up strongly related product categories to significantly boost the website’s performance.

Otherwise, if they only sold low-repurchase-rate categories like digital appliances, furniture, and home decor, FoxTao would go out of business sooner or later.

Categories like furniture, general merchandise, food, clothing, and cosmetics were the core pillars that supported an e-commerce company.

Take Jingdong, for example. It started with just 3C products and home appliances. Then it snatched the book business from its ’good brother’ Li Guoqing, expanded into food, home goods, and cosmetics, and finally, didn’t even spare small subcategories like auto parts and accessories.

"Understood." Song Yuncheng nodded slightly, her lovely brows furrowed as she seemed to contemplate the event’s agenda and details, as well as what benefits FoxTao could gain from it.

Chen Yansen glanced at her, then got up and left the Innovation Park.

Besides the fashion salon, once the Investment Attraction team doubled in size, he planned to send category and investment staff to next year’s alcohol convention, candy and chocolate festival, cosmetics show, and home appliance and digital expos.

For one, it was a chance to get a close-up understanding of the brands’ online needs. For another, it would be good training for this batch of new recruits.

’Investment attraction is built one step at a time, out in the field. How much room for growth is there if you just stay cooped up in the office?’

Back in Room 0418, Chen Yansen lay in bed after a shower.

He couldn’t sleep, so he sent text messages to Meng Jie and Song Yuncheng, telling them both to register for Mi Chat and come online to talk with him.

"Wow! This app lets you send pictures for free? That’s awesome!" Meng Jie exclaimed after trying it for a few minutes.

’Heh, that’s nothing. There will be video calls in the future.’

"Send me a picture," Chen Yansen replied.

"I’m not wearing much, it’s not convenient to take one," Meng Jie replied instantly.

"Inconvenient photos are my favorite kind," Chen Yansen typed with a smile.

"Why did you want me to download this app?" Song Yuncheng’s message came through.

"To chat with me, of course," Chen Yansen replied.

"I’m working on the FoxTao brand promotion PPT and the proposal for the Hang City salon. I really don’t have time to chat," Song Yuncheng refused bluntly.

Chen Yansen glanced at the time—9:15 PM. He figured Song Yuncheng was still at work. After a moment’s thought, he replied, "Email me the files. I’ll help you sort out the logic."

"Thank you, Master. smiley_face.jpg" Song Yuncheng had been worrying about what to do. She was good at making brand promotion PPTs, but she had no experience with industry networking events.

She had spent ages searching on Qian Du but hadn’t found much useful information.

"Call me Daddy. angry_face.jpg" Chen Yansen texted back.

"...I’ve sent the file to your email." Sitting at her desk, Song Yuncheng muttered under her breath, "Chen Yansen, you’re such a pervert. Just you wait, when I make it big, I’ll make you call me Mommy."

The thought popped into her head unconsciously, and she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Before long, Chen Yansen replied to her email. He had restructured the entire plan; all Song Yuncheng had to do was fill in the content and flesh out the details of the event.

"Now, send me a picture," Chen Yansen demanded his ’payment’ bluntly after finishing his guidance.

"Thanks, Boss. I’m clocking out now." Song Yuncheng giggled, her eyes crinkling as she walked out of the Innovation Park with a spring in her step.

BZZZ—

Song Yuncheng pulled out her phone and saw Chen Yansen was still bugging her for a picture. She glanced around, stood under a streetlight, and with a CLICK, snapped a selfie and sent it to him.